


A New Side of Korra

by lanagotconed20



Series: Road Trip [4]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanagotconed20/pseuds/lanagotconed20
Relationships: Korra & Asami Sato, Korra/Asami Sato
Series: Road Trip [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136540
Comments: 13
Kudos: 105





	A New Side of Korra

Asami pulled up to Korra’s house just as the sun was beginning to set. Every time she drove her new Honda Civic - after all, she _did_ need a car to keep in Alabama since she was commuting back and forth to Birmingham most days - she was more convinced that she’d made the right decision purchasing this model. What could she say? Maybe her road trip with Korra in that rental Civic had swayed her decision for sentimental reasons, but it was obvious that Honda made quality vehicles nonetheless.

As she turned off the car, she looked behind the house towards the barn. The sun always set so beautifully around it, and Korra was really teaching her how to stop and just soak in moments like this. Pink, purple, orange, and blue all swirled together with the clouds as the sun touched down on the horizon. While she looked, she noticed something else and frowned.

Beside the barn, under the small lean-to that Korra had built to keep her workout equipment in, she was hitting the punching bag. Asami had seen her work out before, but this didn’t look like working out. Instead of the precise jabs and cross punches like usual, Korra seemed to be going at the bag with wild intent.

She opened her door and she could immediately hear “Ignorance” by Paramore blasting through Korra’s portable speaker. Another bad sign. On their road trip, Asami remembered that Korra had said that it was her anger song, the one she listened to when she was properly pissed off.

Heels would never make it all the way to the barn, so she just took them off and went barefoot. She didn’t even think twice about it - Korra’s distress begged her presence, and shoes wouldn’t be allowed to get in her way.

Not wanting to startle Korra with her back turned - especially with the way she was going at that punching bag - she waited for the song to end. She’d keep the next song from playing to get Korra’s attention.

Watching Korra, she realized for the first time just how much she held back. She was positively _attacking_ the punching bag with a ferocity that was beyond her normal displays of strength. In a cut off shirt and shorts, Asami watched her muscles ripple with the impact of each strike. Korra was one of the softest people she knew, but seeing her like this - she had a feeling that this is what would have been unleashed on that creep who messed with them in Shreveport. Instead of feeling afraid in seeing Korra like this, she felt oddly protected. Korra had shown her then that she wouldn’t allow anyone to harm her, and now she could see clearly that Korra could follow through on that promise. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Korra would only fight like this in defense.

So what was Korra defending herself from? What was she trying to fight away?

The song ended and Asami paused the music. Korra whipped around, eyes fierce, ready to pound the speaker too until she saw Asami standing there.

Asami noted several things at once. Korra hadn’t even taken the time to wrap her hands, so they were already cracked and a little bloody. Sweat plastered her hair to her face, the ponytail unable to withstand the force of her hitting. She had never seen that look in Korra’s eyes before - such rage and pain.

But when her eyes locked with Asami’s, Korra’s face turned the truest form of worry.

“Asami! I’m… I’m so sorry. I thought you’d be home later, I was just trying to work through something.” She wiped sweat from her eyes, noticing her bloody knuckles as she did so and wincing - from embarrassment or pain, Asami wasn’t sure. “You weren’t supposed to… I don’t let people see me like this.”

“ _Korra_.” Asami may have used her commanding CEO voice. “I hear you. But don’t you dare deny me the opportunity to be here for you.”

Korra drew a deep breath and looked down. When she looked up, Asami saw how broken she really was. “You’re right. Can we go inside? Maybe I do need to talk.”

Asami wanted to kiss her, to wrap her up in a hug, to assure her that whatever was plaguing her was nothing they couldn’t fight away together. She wasn’t sure if that’s what Korra needed right now, though. She decided to at least take her hand as she led them inside the house.

Neither of them speaking, Asami led Korra to a seat at the table. She sat down, staring at the floor, lost in thought. Asami went into the bathroom to find the first aid kit so that she could doctor Korra’s hands. Asami pulled the other chair in front of her, bending her head to meet her eyes, and taking her hands gently in her own. “Hey. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but whatever it is, I just want you to remember I’m in your corner.”

Korra looked deep into her eyes. Asami held her gaze, refusing to be the first one to break eye contact. She needed Korra to know she meant what she said with her whole heart.

After a moment, Korra’s face scrunched up and the tears began to fall. She began speaking so fast, Asami could hardly keep up. “I knew when I became a counselor that I wouldn’t be able to help everyone, to save every relationship, and most of the time I’ve learned to not see myself as the failure in those situations. Sometimes it’s just not meant to work out. I get that. But Asami, I… I still break sometimes when kids are involved.”

Wiping the cuts on her hands clean as she spoke, she looked up at Korra genuinely and nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I’ve been working with this couple for a while. It was a stupid situation where they got married when they were super young because she got pregnant. They never should have married, and they both knew that. But they tried to make it work, and they ended up fighting all the time. And their kid was always caught in the middle, caught in the crossfire.”

The cuts on Korra’s hands weren’t too bad, so she held her hands tight as she applied pressure to the deeper cuts with some gauze. “That sounds absolutely heartbreaking.”

“It _is,_ ” Korra said with a sob. “Here’s this little girl sitting in front of me, telling me she doesn’t want to go home. That she wants to come stay with me, because I’m nice and I don’t make her feel scared. And that she wishes her mommy and daddy loved her. Asami, this child doesn’t even feel _loved in her own home_ and at the end of our session I have to send her back. There’s nothing I can do to protect her from this trauma. It tears me up. It’s so wrong, so unfair.”

Asami set the gauze down, deciding to run her fingers across her palms instead to try to give her some comfort. “That’s awful, Korra. No wonder you’re so angry.”

The rage Asami had seen in her eyes earlier came back a little. “I’m pissed, so pissed, at this girl’s parents. At how they could be so selfish, so _ignorant_ to knowingly put their daughter through this, prioritizing their own hatred and spite for each other at the cost of _her_ wellbeing. It’s sickening. It’s deplorable. They are stealing her innocence and they don’t even fucking _care_. How could they not care? How can they be so wrapped up in their own shit that they can’t even put their daughter’s needs first? But no, they’re both too prideful to bite the bullet and divorce so this poor child can have some peace. They think she’s just a kid, she’ll just get over it, she won’t remember it. But she will. They’ve built her a foundation of insecurity she’ll have to fight well into adulthood, I just know it. I see the signs. I hate it. I hate it so much. Every time, I want to strangle them both, and it takes everything in me not to.”

Asami nodded, brow furrowing at the impact of Korra’s words. “And I just thought professionalism was hard for me sometimes.” She wiped Korra’s tears and held her face. “This little girl is going to be okay. She may have to fight to be okay some days, but she’ll have the tools she needs to do it because of you. You have to know that.”

“It’s just… not enough. It never feels like enough. Why can’t I do enough? Why can’t I be enough? Why can’t I fix it?” Sobs overtook her again and Asami couldn’t take it. She couldn’t bear for Korra to see herself in this way.

She took Korra’s face in both of her hands. “Korra, you are so much more than enough. Listen to me,” she said as Korra looked away, reclaiming her gaze. “People are stupid. People are selfish, and people are too prideful and get caught up in their own heads too much to see the effect their actions have on others, especially their kids. But look at me, and look at you. We both struggled with decisions that our parents made, we got caught up in the crossfire too in our own ways, but look at us. Here we are, some days surviving more than thriving, but we’re strong. We didn’t allow it to define the rest of our lives. We both battle our insecurities just like everyone else. But you know what? If I’d had someone that cared about me as much as you care for this little girl, I can’t even begin to imagine how much easier my road to security would have been.”

New tears began to fall at Asami’s words. She found that tears were welling up in her own eyes as well. She felt so passionately about helping Korra see the beauty of her own heart and intentions, that she was suddenly overcome with emotion.

“Korra, of course you can’t save everyone. But on bad days, you know what she’s going to remember? She’s going to remember you telling her that she is strong, that she is capable, and that she is loved. She’s going to have your voice in her mind, telling her that she can overcome anything, telling her that she’s brilliant and brave. Because I know you. And I know that you’ve said these things to her.” Asami kissed her. “I know this because you’ve already said it to me in so many ways.”

Korra wiped her nose with the back of her hand, then fell into Asami’s shoulder. Asami held her, gripping her tight so that Korra could feel how much she cared, to anchor her to rationality. “You will never know the impact you have on people, Korra. You’ll never be able to feel the depth of it. But you shine so bright, your heart for people is so evident, that anyone who talks to you leaves shining a little brighter too.”

Korra’s response was muffled as her face was pressed into Asami. “Do you really think so?”

“I know so. And I’m a certified genius, so you have to listen to me.”

Korra pulled back and Asami pressed her lips to her forehead, looking at her with all the intensity that she felt. “You can’t carry the world on your own, even if you feel like you should, like you could. But day by day, the world is a better place just because you exist in it.”

Finally breaking into a smile, Korra said, “Well damn Asami, who’s the counselor now?”

“I may have picked up a few things here and there. Can’t toot my own horn though,” she said as she pushed Korra lightly. “I learned from the best.”

“Thank you for being there for me. I’m not used to someone being there for me like I am for everyone else. It… it really means a lot to me how much you care.” Korra ran her hands over her face, wiping away all evidence of tears.

“If only you could feel how much I care.” The words slipped out of Asami’s mouth, but she wasn’t sure she would have filtered them anyway. No sense in hiding the truth. Regardless of how irrational it was, how they hadn’t known each other all that long, she knew she was falling in love. Sometimes, like now, she wasn’t sure if she wasn’t already there.

Korra’s eyes shined at her words. Where anger and rage had been before, her usual spark took its rightful place. “I feel it more than you think.”

Before it turned into a love profession - because frankly, Asami really wasn’t sure if Korra or their relationship was ready for that - she stood up and took Korra’s hands. “Come on, it’s my turn to make you dinner. And after you taste how bad my cooking is, you won’t be able to think of much else that’s bothering you anyway.”

And to the sound of Korra’s laughter, Asami acknowledged that seeing this new side of Korra had made her fall even harder for her.


End file.
